The object of this invention is to provide a resilient frustoconical roller of hollow annular construction whose wall thickness varies according to the roller diameter whereby abnormal loads cause the roller to be deflected substantially uniformly along its entire length, thereby avoiding stress concentrations that can lead to premature failure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,146 issued to Alexandre et al describes roller or spherical type bearings which are made of resilient materials and which may deflect under load without permanent deformation. The idea involves loading the bearings so that the load is evenly distributed to the entire bearing surfaces.
The present disclosure differs from Alexander et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,146 in that it relies upon hollow frusto-conical bearings to resist permanent deformation during loading. The hollow bearings have a greater resiliency than solid bearings under load. I design each hollow frusto-conical bearing with a variable wall thickness related to the diameter difference between the small end of the bearing and the large end, whereby the bearing undergoes deflection along its entire length, thus avoiding potential stress concentrations.
Buckwalter U.S. Pat. No. 1,961,134 describes a conical anti-friction roller bearing that apparently flattens under very heavy loads; the roller is presumably a solid element. Buckwalter makes no special provisions for deformation of the bearing when subjected to increased loads. As a result, if the bearings are deformed during loading, the efficiency of the Buckwalter device may be impaired. The present invention overcomes this shortcoming by providing hollow bearings which are sufficiently resilient to absorb shock loads by temporarily deforming and then returning to normal when the load is reduced to normal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,611 to Dunlap discloses in FIG. 8 thereof an anti-friction bearing comprising a series of hollow cylindrical elements capable of deforming under high loads. Apparently the wall thickness of each cylindrical element is uniform along the element length. My bearing design differs from Dunlap in that it involves hollow frustro-conical elements of progressively changing wall thickness from one end of each element to the other, whereby the array of bearing elements is able to withstand high shock loadings in both radial and axial (thrust) directions .